EditorialWins small and big on Parker projectLast week, the City Council approved a plan to allow 150-foot towers on four north Tribeca blocks along West St. Since the city and the developer of one of the blocks had already agreed to come down significantly on height, the key question was bulk, better known in the zoning-jargon world as F.A.R., or floor-to-area ratio. On this important point the community, with Councilmember Alan Gerson as their advocate, won only a small victory.

The Penny PostFilming the Katrina filmersBy Andrei Codrescu
About six months ago I went to St. Bernard Parish with my cameraman Jason to get my own share of disaster photography for the documentary that Im making, which is different from the documentary everybody else made or is making. Every fifth person in New Orleans is either making or helping make a documentary. We are like the Amazon tribes whose families were said to consist of a mother, father, children and one anthropologist.

Stars shine through rain at soccer field dedicationBy Judith Stiles
Without a permit, playing pickup soccer games in New York City often means settling for asphalt surfaces, wedged in between basketball games, where backpacks are plunked on the ground in lieu of goalposts.

Pretzels and Provolone
may lose their churchBy Lincoln Anderson
In the latest threatened Downtown church closing, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York is planning to shutter Our Lady of Vilnius, a Lithuanian church on Broome St. in Hudson Square.

Pier A negotiations continue running adriftBy Ronda Kaysen
Pier A, the historic pier perched on the edge of Battery Park, was once a Victorian symbol of New York Citys splendor. Today, it is a dilapidated blight on the Lower Manhattan landscape, and as discussions to revive it repeatedly disintegrate, its future remains perennially in doubt.

INSIDE

Greenwich South is transformed, but at what cost?By Ronda Kaysen
Closing the streets surrounding One Police Plaza has increased noise pollution and traffic in the area, delayed buses, caused a spike in pedestrian accidents and isolated the area from the surrounding Chinatown neighborhood, a study by the New York City Police Dept. found. Nevertheless, the streets should remain closed indefinitely to protect Police Headquarters from a potential terrorist attack, the same study declared.

Track fire causes evacuation of subways on bridgeBy David Spett
A track fire in Brooklyn on the B/D subway lines forced the evacuation of 4,000 subway riders around 6:15 p.m. Wed. Aug. 16. Some riders were stranded on the Manhattan Bridge without power or air conditioning in their subway cars.

The Gospel according to Reverend BillyAmidst the pumping fans and unforgiving mid-day summer heat, Reverend Billy welcomes his audience to the Spiegeltent, a wooden structure beneath the Brooklyn Bridge that is part circus, part saloon, and on Sundays with Billy, an hour of religious revival. While the six-piece band plays a groovy blues introduction, the leisure-suited Reverend shakes hands with his parishioners.

Now, if only Pinochet the butcher would disappearBy Jerry Tallmer
The Friend of the Disappeared  a fellow prisoner  says, looking back on it: They called her Goldfinch because she walked like some little bird. You know, kind of hopping, like she was going everywhere in a hurry. But whats to be in a hurry about in Tejas Verdes?

Fratricide casts immigrant experience through violent lensBy Leonard Quart
There have been of a slew of recent films dealing with the struggles that immigrants face in adjusting to life in Western Europe. Among them are Jan Hrebejks satiric and penetrating, Up and Down, Stephen Frears thriller, Dirty Pretty Things and the unsung, trenchant The Last Resort directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.

Lights, cell phone camera, action!By Steven Snyder
Weve all seen them: Those people who walk around all day wearing wireless headsets, juggling a cell phone and iPod in one hand while typing out an e-mail on a Blackberry in the other. Technology has come to change not only the way we communicate, but the way we think about interacting with those around us. How many now prefer phone calls to face-to-face conversations? E-mails to phone calls? Instant messages to e-mails?